Corcos, Joshua ben Hayyim

(547 words)

Joshua (Ichoua, Yechoua, Josué) ben Ḥayyim Corcos (1832–1929) belonged to an important Moroccan Jewish family whose members who had been royal merchants (Ar. tujjār al-sulṭān) for at least two centuries and remained closely connected to the palace and the highest officials after the dismantlement of the royal monopolies in 1856. His father, Ḥayyim, head of the Jewish community of Marrakesh and the ḥevratgemilut ḥasadim, enjoyed a privileged status as financier of the sultan, vizier, and governor. Ḥayyim hosted Moses Montefiore when he visited Morocco in 1864 and helped him…